Azalin

If the family has the means to keep her on life support, then I see no reason why they shouldnt . this isn't about the girl having some kind of miraculous recovery, its about the family's difficulty dealing with such an unexpected tragedy and the loss of an innocent child at the most difficult time of the year for such a thing to happen (there's probably unopened Christmas gifts with her name on them that shell never see). Even facing the fact that she will never awaken, I can't say that I would do anything differently. That being said, I do not believe that society should foot the bill to keep her alive. Private donations, perhaps by way of a foundation set up in her name would be acceptable to me. Either way, if the decision were left up to me, I couldn't do it. I'm not a very religious person, but this family is in my prayers and has my deepest and most sincere sympathies.

A happy and prosperous 2014 to you all!

I guess what we have here is a clear illustration of exactly where my understanding of thermodynamics ends, and further reading is required. I remember in my more youthful years working in kitchens, filling deep fryers with oil to the fill-line, then turning the machine on and watching the oil rise above the line as it heated. My dad used to partially drain our swimming pool and hang rows of empty milk jugs & clorox bottles containing gravel as ballast by strings across the width of the pool, so that the ice would expand inward on the plastic jugs instead of outward onto the walls of the pool. Things like this fascinated me as a kid, but I never really formally studied thermodynamics....the closest to that I ever did was reading Einstein's writings on Brownian motion. If superfluidity is simple by comparison, then I'll never get it. This forces me to accept TYTT's aliens postulation.

that he was running dangerously low on moth-spit for his

I always thought that water solidified in the same manner that any liquid will solidify when reduced to the necessary temperature, except that water will expand as it freezes as opposed to other liquids, which contract as they solidify. and let's not even mention superfluidity.

or send sunlight via pipeline to readily increase our ability to generate solar power.

the assembled car-salesmen, but to the horror of

this is something I've been wondering about, because one of the fundamentals of thermodynamics is that warm water should rise, not sink. besides, how can water absorb heat from the atmosphere and store it in pockets deep under the surface without that heat dissipating?

that made my day.

nope, it's conveniently included in all the newer twisted fluorescent lights mandated to replace incandescent bulbs, so thanks to the democrats you no longer have to look in two places for household illumination and mercury vapor.

and there's no mercury vapor in them, either.

a win is a win, even if it is by the seat of the pants.

several unsavory individuals wearing penny-loafers and driving a....

happily overuses moist-towelettes in celebration of

and you think that this is the kind of thing with which the federal government should involve itself?

that's not just stupid, it's offensive.

and other ancient, almost mythical topics such as

hey, Einstein....who said anything about draining the great lakes dry?

dressed in a kimono, dancing to

I would just LOVE to see the poopstorm fallout from building water pipelines from the north into the south. you know it would happen, too. old hippies and women with hairy armpits protesting, screaming about the potential for ecological disaster if there was ever a leak in the pipeline. why, the semi-arid landscape would be destroyed! and all those poor scorpions and fire ants having their ecologies ruined!

I get it, and I'm not trying to contradict anything you posed. to answer in more detail, I would automatically lump the first two groups into what I already referred to as 'pure partisan'.....very predictable responses from either group. there is indeed a vast american 'middle' that has no real party leanings, doesn't pay attention to the details of the daily events in Washington, finds civics boring in general, and can't name their representitive, Senators, Supreme Court Justices, etc....these are as you call them, dolts. there is another group that I believe is often overlooked when we generalize like this, and that's the non-partisans or independents that are very well informed, understand the role and mechanics of government from federal to local, and are party-independent out of disgust for both major parties. I would also tend to include Liberatarians in this group, though they are obviously partisans as well....but they are by far the most critical of their own leadership of any major american political party. they know a lot about the mechanics of government, separation of powers, checks & balances, and constitutionality in general, more so in my experience than the average democrat or republican. and as the american left continues it's path toward socialism, the republicans move to the center to become basically what the JFK democrats were....pro-welfare, lower-ish taxes, socially liberal, and big on national defense. in the republicans' move toward the middle, the Liberatarian ranks are beginning to swell with those who feel the republicans are moving away from their modern conservative values, offering a platform of individual liberty, property rights, gun ownership, less involvement in foreign wars, etc. popular opinion is just that.....it's popular. so is Lady Gaga, McDonalds, the Twighlight movies, and a whole host of shallow, insipid cultural inanities that have no lasting value whatsoever. what bothers me is that broadly speaking, people react most strongly to what 'resonates'.....usually a firm jaw and a good speaking voice. I don't think that will ever change, especially since people don't seem to be getting any smarter as time passes.

and I hadn't even gotten around to describing licking the mayo up afterward....

a reproachful iguana singing the Michigan Fight Song in the key of

that kind of thinking will earn you a seat on the board.

no thanks.....Texas already has at least a dozen or so desalination plants, and there's a whole lot more ocean water available than there is in the great lakes. back at'cha!